A robot helps scientists explore a historic undersea wreck

It has been 14 years since marine archaeologists rediscovered the U.S.S. Monitor, the Civil War ironclad that sank in a storm near Cape Hatteras, N.C., ten months after the historic 1862 standoff with its Confederate counterpart, the C.S.S. Virginia.* Since then more than 100 artifacts have been recovered from the wreck, including wine bottles and a 1,300-lb. anchor. Despite the Monitor's designation in March as the country's first undersea National Historic Landmark, scientists and Government officials have been unable to decide whether the ship itself can be salvaged. Last week, after a 14-day expedition led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric...